Stellar (XLM)
Rank #20
The Stellar price today is $0.31 AUD, up 8.21% in the last 24 hours. Prices shown in Australian Dollars and updated daily.
$0.31
8.21% (24h)Last updated: 25 Sept 2026, 8:26 am
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- Market Cap
- $10,874,956,794
- 24h Trading Volume
- $706,977,404
- Volume/Market Cap
- 6.50%
- Market Dominance
- 0.26%
- Circulating Supply
- 34,944,208,111.86 XLM
- Total Supply
- 50,001,786,839.70 XLM
- Max Supply
- N/A
- All-Time High
- $1.12 (-72.19%) on 1/2/2018
- All-Time Low
- $0.00 (50,754.31%) on 3/4/2015
About Stellar
Stellar is an open-source, decentralized network co-founded in 2014 by Jed McCaleb and Joyce Kim to facilitate the fast and low-cost transfer of value across different currencies and assets globally. Managed by the non-profit Stellar Development Foundation, the project serves as a global infrastructure that connects banks, payment systems, and individuals to expand financial access to underserved populations. Its main value proposition lies in providing a bridge between traditional money and digital networks through the use of Anchors, which are trusted entities that hold deposits and issue credits on the ledger.
The network operates using the Stellar Consensus Protocol and a Federated Byzantine Agreement, where nodes choose trusted sets of other nodes to agree on the state of the ledger. This system ensures high throughput and fast finality, where transactions are considered permanent and irreversible within seconds. Key features include a built-in distributed exchange for trading assets without intermediaries and the Soroban platform for developing smart contracts. Users can also utilize the network for tokenizing real-world assets or accessing decentralized finance services like peer-to-peer lending.
Stellar's native token, XLM, is essential for maintaining network integrity by acting as an intermediary to find efficient exchange paths and preventing spam through small transaction fees and minimum account balance requirements. Unlike many other digital assets, the network has no inflation because the community voted to disable the automatic creation of new tokens. While the project received early funding from the payments company Stripe, it is now sustained by a global community of validators and developers rather than traditional venture capital.
Stellar (XLM) is a payments-focused blockchain designed for fast, cheap cross-border transfers and issuing digital representations of money. Created in 2014 by Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb, it targets remittances and financial inclusion rather than DeFi speculation.
Stellar (XLM, “lumens”) is one of crypto's oldest payment networks. Where Bitcoin aims to be digital gold, Stellar aims to be digital dollar-post: moving any currency across borders in seconds for fractions of a cent, with built-in currency conversion.
It has focused on remittances, NGO disbursements and stablecoin issuance — partnering with money-transfer companies and humanitarian organisations rather than courting speculative trading.
What Is Stellar?
Stellar is an open-source decentralised payment network. Anyone can issue tokens representing any currency (fiat or crypto), and trade or send them through the network's built-in exchange, with XLM acting as a bridge currency and spam-prevention fee.
Accounts require a small XLM minimum balance, and transactions cost a fraction of a cent, settling in about five seconds.
How Does Stellar Work?
Stellar uses the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), a federated Byzantine-agreement design: instead of mining or global staking, each validator chooses which other validators it trusts, and overlapping “quorum slices” produce agreement efficiently.
SCP enables 5-second finality with very low energy use. Stellar added smart-contract capability (Soroban) in 2024, bringing programmable DeFi to the network.
History of Stellar
Stellar was created in 2014 by Jed McCaleb (who founded Mt. Gox and co-founded Ripple) and lawyer Joyce Kim, as a non-profit project via the Stellar Development Foundation.
Milestones: early partnerships with IBM (World Wire); Ukraine's CBDC pilot research; MoneyGram enabling cash-to-USDC on/off-ramps at its agent locations from 2021; the Stellar Development Foundation burning 50 billion XLM in 2019 to right-size supply; and Soroban smart contracts arriving in 2024.
Tokenomics
XLM launched with 100 billion tokens; in 2019 the Foundation burned roughly half, leaving a fixed supply of about 50 billion XLM with no further issuance (inflation was disabled by a protocol change in 2019).
XLM has no staking yield — it pays for transaction fees and account reserves. Live supply and market cap are shown above.
Buying Stellar in Australia
XLM is broadly available on AUSTRAC-registered exchanges for AUD purchase via PayID or bank transfer.
CGT rules apply to XLM like any crypto: selling, swapping or using it triggers a taxable disposal. Because Stellar is often used as a transfer rail, remember that exchanging AUD→XLM→another crypto realises a gain or loss at each leg.
Risks
Stellar faces intense competition for the payments niche — from other chains, from stablecoin networks, and increasingly from regulated payment companies and CBDCs. Its market value depends on the bet that the network's rails become genuinely load-bearing for international money movement.
Volatility risk is standard but real; XLM has experienced large drawdowns from its peaks. Never invest more than you can afford to lose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Stellar the same as Ripple (XRP)?
No — Stellar was created by Ripple co-founder Jed McCaleb in 2014 as a separate network with a different consensus design (SCP) and a non-profit, financial-inclusion-focused mission.
Does XLM have a supply cap?
Yes. About 50 billion XLM exist after a 2019 burn of 50 billion; the previous inflation mechanism was removed, so no new XLM is created.
What is Soroban?
Stellar's smart-contract platform, launched in 2024, which brought programmable DeFi applications to the Stellar network.
Why do some transfers require a memo when sending XLM?
Exchanges often use one shared Stellar address with a memo to route deposits to individual customers. Omitting the memo can delay or lose funds — always include it when required.
Stellar is payments plumbing with a decade of real deployments — arguably the most institutionally-used chain nobody talks about. XLM's investment case is a patient bet on those rails mattering more over time; its low headline volatility relative to meme assets is more about neglect than safety.
Sources
Where to Buy Stellar in Australia?
Looking to buy Stellar in Australia? Swyftx is a popular AUSTRAC-registered Australian exchange — check its current listings to confirm Stellar is available. Here’s why Australians choose it:
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